Innocence Clinic Adds to Stellar Team at Miami Law

The Innocence Clinic, which is dedicated to rectifying wrongful convictions and combating injustice, has two new faces on its team.

Craig Trocino, who since 2010 has worked as an adjunct with the clinic, has a fresh title – Practitioner in Residence and Associate Director. Trocino was most recently at the Capital Collateral Regional Counsel's Office, where he represented prisoners sentenced to death by challenging their sentences and the verdicts that led to them. As an appellate attorney, he has worked extensively in state and federal post-conviction practice. Trocino has published on topics ranging from comparative law to scientific evidence, and authored a chapter in the Florida Bar's Florida Appellate Practice 8th Edition.

"Of all the things I have done in my career, being a part of the UM Innocence Clinic, representing the voiceless innocent and shepherding the students through the process, is the most significant and satisfying work I have done," Trocino said. "I am excited about helping the UM Innocence Clinic to become a premier actual innocence clinic that will help those in need well into the future."

Sarah Cardone also joined the Innocence Clinic, as Legal Assistant. She came to Miami Law from Solove & Solove, P.A., where she worked as a legal assistant for three years. She graduated from Florida International University in 2008 with a B.A. in international relations and geography.

"I am excited to be a part of such a wonderful clinic and feel grateful to be able to assist with and observe the life-changing work that they do," Cardone said.

The Innocence Clinic represents individuals incarcerated for a minimum of 10 years who have new evidence in their cases, ranging from recanting witnesses to new witnesses discovered by students to prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel. The clinic also accepts cases involving DNA evidence. Most of the cases handled by the clinic involve serious offenses such as rape and murder, and the majority of its clients are serving life sentences.